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Gunmen kill worshippers during church service in Nigeria

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Gunmen attacked a Catholic church in South Western Nigeria’s Ondo state during mass on Sunday killing several people, local media reported.

A doctor at a hospital in Owo, a town in the state in Nigeria’s South-west, told reporters that several worshippers were brought in dead.

Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, police spokesperson for Ondo State said, “There was an incident today at the Saint Francis Catholic Church in Owo” and police will issue a statement soon.

Local media reported that the gunmen had fired at worshippers and detonated explosives at the church.

Africa’s most populous country has witnessed attacks and kidnappings for ransom by armed gangs, mostly in its North-west. Such attacks are rare in South-western Nigeria.

Ondo state governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu said he was heading back to the state from the capital Abuja after the “unprovoked attack and killing of innocent people of Owo.”

“We shall commit every available resource to hunt down these assailants and make them pay,” he said in a statement.

Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Additional reporting by Fikayo Owoeye in Lagos.

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